Zucchini Pizza with Olive Vinaigrette

Every week, Caroline Wright creates simple, civilized recipes for Food52 that feed four -- for under $20, in under 20 minutes.

Today: A dinner of homemade pizza will have you reliving the best parts of your college years, at least for the night. 

My husband and I eat pizza every Friday, maybe as a holdover from our college days (even though the flavors, these days, are far more grown-up). We eat it with a huge salad and ripe fruit, feeling satisfied and readied for the weekend from our predictable Friday night date. 

This pizza, like the others we favor, is piled high with the simplest of seasonal ingredients (in this case, zucchini). The zucchini, sliced thinly, has a chance to soften as the pizza cooks and melt into the slightly-spicy Provolone. Topped with a few spoonfuls of a briny and green vinaigrette, this zucchini pizza is eaten in salty mouthfuls, best washed down with beer.

Zucchini Pizza with Olive Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Cornmeal, for dusting
1 pound pizza dough
?2 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced?
2 ounces Provolone cheese, coarsely grated?
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
?Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
?2 teaspoons red-wine vinegar?
1/2 cup pitted green olives (about 14), coarsely chopped
?1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste?
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

As a freelance food writer and cook, I first wrote this style of recipe as a column on my blog, The Wright Recipes, as an excuse to cook good food for my friends in a quick and simple way. 

Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute™ Meals grew into a cookbook that’s being published by Workman in May 2013. The recipes found here are original, made especially for Food52 to once again celebrate simple food with friends.

Photos by Caroline Wright